JP2004515168A - Professional service to request personal identification number - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method for billing a service provider customer is presented. The call to the service provider is received by a prepaid call center. At the prepaid call center, the customer is prompted to provide an identification number (step 410). The prepaid call center then deducts from the prepaid account at a predetermined billing rate until the telephone call is completed (steps 455-465).

Description

[0001]
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to telephone networks, and more particularly to billing for professional services provided via telephone.
[0002]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Large and small professional services firms, such as accounting, legal and consultants, often provide professional services over the phone at time-based rates. This time-based charge is separate from the call charges associated with telephone charges. Time-based fees are also very important, often ranging from several hundred dollars to several thousand dollars per hour. It is imperative to keep timely and accurate records of customer charges. Logs of customer telephone calls and conversation lengths are often recorded in handwritten notes. This is problematic for a number of reasons. Keeping handwritten communication records is time consuming and requires abnormal organizational skills. The time spent maintaining handwritten communication records alone is a loss of revenue from providing professional services. In addition, the most organized professionals often tend to forget telephone conversations or lose their records. Failure to keep a record of telephone conversations will result in lost revenue from that.
[0003]
In addition, some professionals, such as technical support staff, first generate revenue that helps customers by answering short questions. These professionals can generate a large amount of bills in a short time. Large invoices result in significant overhead costs spent on accounting and invoicing.
[0004]
In addition, it is difficult to accurately record the length of each phone conversation, and most service providers (suppliers) will estimate the time of a call. When services are offered at high hourly billing rates, the difference between the estimate and the actual time can be significant under- or over-billing. The difference between the estimate and the actual time causes an open controversy between the service provider and the customer.
[0005]
Professional services companies lose revenue due to unpaid accounts. To prevent this, customers are often asked to pay upfront for the services provided. However, if the service is provided via a communication network, customers often cannot verify the reputation of a professional services company. As a result, prepay customers are vulnerable to being scammed by a small number of vicious businesses.
[0006]
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a system for billing professional services that mitigates such problems.
[0007]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A system and method for billing a customer for a fee payable to a service provider is presented. An incoming call from the calling party is received at a prepaid call center and the customer is prompted for an identification number. The prepaid call center then establishes a voice connection between the customer and the service provider and deducts the fees paid for the called party from the customer's prepaid account.
[0008]
A prepayment calling system for billing customers is also presented. The prepaid calling system comprises a central office for receiving incoming calls from customers, a voice unit for prompting the customer to enter an identification number, and a call processor for establishing a telephone call between the customer and the service provider to the central office. And a database for storing prepaid accounts for customers.
[0009]
A method for collecting payment for a service provided by a service provider is also presented. The method includes the steps of receiving a prepayment from a customer and maintaining the prepayment in a prepayment account. The telephone conversation between the customer and the service provider is then monitored, and charges for services associated with the telephone conversation are deducted from the upfront account and paid to the service provider.
[0010]
[Detailed description]
Referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a block diagram of a telephone communication system 100 for facilitating professional services billing. Telephone communication system 100 includes any number of customer phones 105, any number of professional service provider / professional service provider phones 110, and a Prepaid Calling Center (PCC) 115. The professional service provider's telephone 110 is associated with a professional service provider, and the professional service provider may be in a call between the professional service provider's telephone 110 and the customer's telephone 105 over a public telephone network (PTN) 120. Bill customers for advice, consulting services, etc. This fee is separate from the call charges associated with telephone calls. PTN 120 is a network of central offices and tandem switches (not shown) that form the backbone of the telecommunications network. Both the central office and the tandem switch network route telephone calls from a calling telephone terminal, eg, customer telephone 105, to a called telephone terminal, eg, professional service provider telephone 110. The routing of telephone calls from a calling telephone to a called telephone is well known in the art and will not be discussed in detail.
[0011]
Each of the professional service providers 110 is associated with any customer service telephone number, such as a toll-free telephone number that can be dialed on the customer telephone 105. Outgoing calls dialed to any one of the customer's service telephone numbers are routed by the PTN 120 to the PCC 115. When an outgoing call from customer phone 105 is routed to PCC 115, PCC 115 establishes the identity of the calling party at customer phone 105, guides the caller through a menu of available services, verifies billing information, Completes a voice connection from the telephone terminal 105 to the professional service provider's telephone 110 and issues a bill to the caller. The identity of the party on the customer's phone 105 may be established by a personal identification number (PIN) and the billing arrangement may be established by a prepaid credit account. The customer's phone 105 can establish a prepaid account with the PCC 115 by credit. In contrast, the charges incurred during a telephone call to the professional service provider's telephone 110 are deducted. One skilled in the art will recognize that the original and replenished credit can be processed by use of a credit card, debit card or other payment system.
[0012]
The PCC 115 serves any number of professional service providers 110 and may be operated by another entity. The PCC 115 operator can send a card with the customer's service telephone number PIN to the professional service provider 110. The professional service provider 110 then distributes the card to its customer 105.
[0013]
Referring next to FIG. 2, a block diagram of the PCC 115 is illustrated. The PCC 115 includes an overlay of the Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) 205 of the central office 210. Central office 210 establishes a voice connection between customer 105 and professional service provider 110 by interconnecting a first leg from customer 105 to PCC 115 and a second leg from PCC 115 to professional service provider 110. A switch that can. The AIN 205 overlay provides "intelligence" that allows the PCC 115 to establish caller identification and set up billing arrangements for the call.
[0014]
The AIN 205 includes a call processor 215, a voice unit 220, and a prepaid customer database 225. Call processor 215 includes a hardware platform, such as a central processing unit (CPU), which executes a series of instructions that cause call processor 215 to perform the operations described below. The series of instructions executed by the call processor 215 is stored on a computer readable medium, such as a call only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), or a removable portable memory such as a floppy disk or a compact disk. Are given to them by storage means. Alternatively, call processor 215 may be executed by an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).
[0015]
The voice unit 220 synthesizes a voice message that can be heard on the customer's telephone 105. Voice messages are used to obtain input from the caller and to provide output. Input from the caller may be received by a DTMF decoder, which may be integrated with the call processor 215, by way of a dual tone, multi-frequency signal associated with the received customer phone 105 button. Frequently played digitized messages, such as prompting the caller to provide a PIN, may be stored in the audio unit 220. Many other specific voice messages may be stored in the prepaid customer database 225 and provided to the voice unit 220 by the call processor 215.
[0016]
The database 225 stores information related to each customer's account in the form of a record. The records are retrieved by the call processor 215 to connect the incoming call to the professional service provider 110 and to bill the customer 105 for services provided in connection with the incoming call. The record stores a menu of available services to guide the caller in the form of a digitized message to select a particular service from a preferred service provider.
[0017]
Referring to FIG. 3, a block diagram of the database 225 is illustrated. Database 225 includes a plurality of records 305 for information associated with each PIN. Each record 305 includes a plurality of fields 310 that include a PIN 310a, a service telephone number 310b of the customer associated with the PIN, identification of the customer 310c, identification of the professional service provider 310d, and a menu of services available to the customer 310e. In the menu of services, a fee table 310f for each of the services available in the service menu, a prepaid balance 310g of the customer, and an incurred fee 310h which is required to be paid to the professional service provider 110 are stored.
[0018]
The service 310e menu includes an interactive, digitized record of the list of services available to the customer associated with the record 310. Note that professional service providers 110 often provide many different services, each of which is handled by a different individual or department. Each of these services is associated with a particular one of the tariffs in tariff field 310f. The service menu 310e also includes a call complete command corresponding to each of the listed services. The call completion command is used to establish a voice connection associated with a particular professional service provider's telephone 110 associated with a department or individual capable of providing the corresponding service.
[0019]
For example, a large law firm may have a lawyer specializing in property planning, tax law, and employee welfare management. A typical menu in the service field 310e may list property plans, taxes, employee welfare services, and may prompt the user to select a particular one of the services. Property planning services relate to instructions for making a phone call to a law firm lawyer 110 who is an expert in property planning, and tax services relate to instructions to make a phone call to a law firm lawyer specializing in taxes. However, employee welfare management services may relate to instructions to telephone a law firm lawyer 110 specializing in employee welfare management. Fee table 310f may include one of the charges for the property planning service, a second charge for tax services, and a third charge for employee welfare. Of course, this is not limited to the legal industry and may be used in many other examples, such as, but not limited to, construction companies, accounting companies or doctor's offices.
[0020]
Records 305 of database 225 are selectively retrieved by call processing unit 215 during an incoming call. The call processing unit 215 instructs the central office 210 to establish a voice connection to the desired professional service provider telephone 110, using the built-in information to assist the user in selecting a particular professional service; As described below, the customer 105 is appropriately charged.
[0021]
Referring next to FIG. 4, a flowchart illustrating the operation of PCC 115 is illustrated. The incoming call to the customer's service telephone number is routed by the PTN to the central office 210 of the PCC 120 at step 405 and detected by the call processor 215. The call processor 215 then prompts the voice unit 220 to provide the caller with his PIN (step 410) using the DTMF signal generated by pressing the button on the customer's phone 105. At step 415, the call processor 215 performs a database dip to retrieve the record 310 associated with the PIN reception between step 410. The call processor 215 then transmits to the voice unit 220 a list of services available to the customer 105 and the associated fees by transferring the menu contents of the service field 310e and the tariff field 310f to the voice unit 220. It is presented (step 420). In step 425, the call processor 215 determines whether the customer 105 has effectively selected an available service from the menu of services and is willing to pay the bill transmitted in step 420.
[0022]
If the caller has effectively selected an available service and has not indicated that it is ready to be billed, the incoming call is disconnected (step 430), thereby ending the process.
[0023]
If, at step 425, the caller 105 selects a particular service and indicates that he is willing to pay the associated billing fee, the calling processor 215 proceeds to the prepaid balance field 310g and the selected service in the tariff 310f. It is verified that there is a sufficient balance by comparing with a plurality of charges (step 435). The comparison involves requesting an estimated length of the call from the caller and using a multiple of the estimated length to determine whether the prepaid balance in the prepaid balance field 310g is sufficient.
[0024]
At step 435, if the caller does not have sufficient prepaid balance, the call processor provides the caller with an opportunity to update his prepaid balance 310g (step 440). If the caller chooses to update the balance, the calling processor obtains billing information, such as a credit or debit card number, sets a charge using the billing information, and credits the prepaid balance 310g ( Step 445). One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the charge is placed in the billing information provided by the caller, for example, by a data connection with a credit card clearinghouse or an electronic fund transfer clearinghouse. I do. A connection to a credit card clearinghouse or an electronic fund transfer clearinghouse validates the collected billing information.
[0025]
At step 435, if the caller has updated the prepaid balance, or the prepaid balance at step 445, the calling processor 210 calls the central office 210 via the PSTN to the customer service number 310b. This instructs the professional service provider 110 to establish a voice connection (step 450). At step 450, when the caller is connected to a professional service provider, the PPC may apply for the duration of the call until the caller's prepaid balance is exhausted (step 460) or the call is terminated (step 465). (Step 455) The charge corresponding to the selected service in the charge table 310f is continuously subtracted from the caller's prepaid balance field 310g, and the charge is accumulated in the generated charge field 310h. If the caller's prepaid balance 310g is exhausted at step 460, the voice connection between the caller 105 and the professional service provider 110 is temporarily interrupted (step 462), and the caller receives the prepaid balance 310g. An opportunity to update is provided and steps 440-460 are repeated. When the call ends at step 465, the fee, the time of the call and the service selected from the service menu are recorded in the generated fee field 310h (step 470) and the process is complete.
[0026]
The above permits the provision of unique services. When the PCC 115 is used to service the majority of professional service providers 110, a significant economies of scale are realized. Thus, a business entity may be established to operate the PCC 115 and provide the billing service to the professional service provider 110.
[0027]
Business entities can sell prepaid cards with PINs to professional service providers 110. Professional service provider 110 can then distribute or resell these cards to customer 105, thereby establishing a prepaid account. The initial prepayment account balance can be collected in a number of ways. For example, the selling price of the card may include the initial credit. Alternatively, the initial credit may be collected when the customer 105 makes the first call to the professional service provider in steps 435-445.
[0028]
The prepaid account balance stored in the prepaid account balance field 310g is accurately grasped by the customer by the business entity operating the PCC 115. The call to the professional service provider 110 is facilitated as shown in FIG. 4, and the incurred charges may be stored in the incurred charges field 310h. At regular regular intervals, the accrued charges stored in the accrued charges field 310h may be paid to the professional service provider by the PCC 115 operator. Instructions detailing each incurred fee in the incurred fee field 310h may be provided to the customer 105 and the professional service provider 110 at regular periodic intervals.
[0029]
While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated in the accompanying drawings and set forth in the foregoing detailed description, the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but is described by the following claims and equivalents thereof. Various rearrangements, modifications and alternatives are possible without departing from the spirit of the defined and defined invention.
[Brief description of the drawings]
Additional objects and advantages will become more apparent and the embodiments will be best understood by referring to the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a telephone communication system for professional service billing.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a prepaid call center.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a prepaid call database.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart describing the operation of a call processor.

Claims (15)

A method for billing a called party a payable fee to a called party, said method comprising:
Receiving an incoming call from a calling party at a prepaid call center;
Prompting the calling party for an identification number;
Establishing an audio connection between the calling party and the called party by a prepaid call center;
Debiting the payable fee to the called party from the prepaid account associated with the calling party. The method of claim 1, further comprising retrieving a particular record that stores a called party and a telephone number associated with the prepaid account. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the particular record is retrieved from a database storing the plurality of records, wherein at least one of the plurality of records stores another telephone number. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the particular record includes a plurality of billing charges and the step of deducting from the prepayment account further comprises the step of subtracting from the prepayment account at a selected one of the plurality of billing charges. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein each of the plurality of billing fees is associated with a particular one of the plurality of services, and the selected fee is related to a selected particular one of the plurality of services selected by the calling party. The described method. Verifying that the calling party has sufficient balance in the prepaid account;
The calling party has insufficient balance in the prepaid account,
Receiving a prepayment from the calling party;
The method of claim 1, including the step of crediting the prepayment account. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving a prepayment further comprises receiving a credit card number from a calling party. A prepaid calling system for billing a calling party a payable fee to a called party, the system including a central office receiving an incoming call from the calling party;
An audio unit that prompts the calling party to enter an identification number;
A call processor for the central unit to establish a voice connection between the calling party and the called party by the prepaid call center;
A database storing a prepayment account associated with the calling party, wherein the prepayment account is deducted from fees paid to the called party. The database stores the particular record, the particular record stores the telephone number associated with the called party and the prepaid account, and the calling processor responds by prompting the caller to provide the identification number by voice unit The system according to claim 8, wherein a specific record is searched for. The system of claim 9, wherein the database stores a plurality of records, at least one of the plurality of records stores another telephone number. 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the particular record includes a plurality of billing charges and the prepaid account is deducted at a selected one of the plurality of billing charges. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of billing fees is associated with a particular one of the plurality of services, and the selected fee is related to a particular one of the plurality of services selected by the calling party. System. A method for collecting payment for a service, the method comprising:
Receiving upfront payments from multiple customers;
Maintaining the prepayment in the corresponding plurality of prepayment accounts;
Monitoring phone conversations between multiple customers and multiple providers;
Deducting charges for services related to telephone conversations with multiple customers;
Expending payment for services associated with the telephone conversation to the plurality of providers. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the prepaid account is stored in a database. 15. The method of claim 14, wherein monitoring a telephone conversation further comprises measuring a time of the telephone conversation.

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